Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett released his annual letter to shareholders Saturday morning, expressing confidence in the market system, the future of the U.S. economy, and blasting hedge funds for high fees and poor results.

Buffett publishes the letter annual in advance of Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting set for May 6th in Omaha.

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The company's net earnings rose 15% in the fourth quarter, rising along with the post-election stock market posting one record high after another. In all of 2016, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. reported a net worth increase of $27.5 billion. The company's stock rose 23%.

Buffett writes that he expects the company's investment gains will continue to be substantial and that they will continue to supply "significant funds for business purchases." And he predicts American business is virtually certain to be worth far more in the years ahead."

The Oracle of Omaha blasted hedge funds, arguing they've been a disservice to those who spend money on them.

"When trillions of dollars are managed by Wall Streeters charging high fees, it will usually be the mangers who reap outsized profits, not the clients," wrote Buffett.

As he has in the past, Buffett shows both his patriotism and his modesty in his annual report.

"Early Americans, we should emphasize, were neither smarter nor more hard working than those people who toiled century after century before them," writes Buffett. "But those venturesome pioneers crafted a system that unleashed human potential, and their successors built upon it. This economic creation will deliver increasing wealth to our progeny far into the future."

"I"ll repeat what I've said in the past and expect to say in future years: Babies born in America today are the luckiest crop in history," said Buffett.

Despite his active campaigning for Hillary Clinton in 2016, Buffett stayed away from political references in his letter. He makes one reference to immigrants, saying "Americans have combined human ingenuity, a market system, a tide of talented and ambitious immigrants, and the rule of law to deliver abundance beyond any dreams of our forefathers."